Kevin de Bruyne is reminder that Chelsea FC attitude must change
Kevin De Bruyne issued a timely reminder of Chelsea FC’s player management mistakes as he led Manchester City to a Champions League semi-final on Tuesday.
Chelsea FC’s personnel management has come under fire in recent years. The past campaign has highlighted flaws in the club’s external recruitment policy, but a more persistent complaint surrounds their inability to graduate youngsters into the first team. A casualty of their incompetence, Kevin De Bruyne, once again showed what could have been as he sent Manchester City into a Champions League semi-final.
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The Blues have been spoiled with supreme academy talent in the last few years. They have essentially monopolised the competitive youth levels, winning numerous trophies. As a result, fans have been constantly excited by what the future holds for the club.
Unfortunately, the Blues have been unable to facilitate the jump from the U21s to the first team. Players have been indoctrinated into the infamous loan machine, failing to pull on a Chelsea shirt at its most senior level. Even those brought in at a ripe age for first-team football have faced a similar fate. Consequently, previously promising talent have stalled in their development while others have been completely cut loose.
Kevin De Bruyne is one of the latter. He joined the Blues as a 20-year-old and was soon enough deemed surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge. A successful loan spell at Wolfsburg led Jose Mourinho to retain him for the 2013/14 season, but by January of that campaign he was on his way back to the Bundesliga, this time on a permanent basis.
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A further two and a half years with Wolfsburg, playing regularly for their senior team, saw the Belgian become one of the premier footballers on the continent. This was reflected in Manchester City’s successful £58 million bid for his services last summer.
Chelsea’s reluctance to take a chance and expose him to Premier League football under their guidance means that a world-class footballer is now in the hands of a rival. Furthermore, injuries aside, he is proving his value and worth. Tuesday evening saw the winger pop up at the right time to net a crucial goal for the Citizens as they finally progressed to the semi-finals of the Champions League.
This would not be so painful for Blues fans had it been a one-off occurrence. Romelu Lukaku is an example of another promising youngster who was cut loose by the Blues. Now, Everton are set to land a massive £60 million windfall with the likes of Bayern Munich and, embarrassingly enough, Chelsea eager to sign him.
Furthermore, letting some youngsters go would not be an issue if the Blues were swimming in quality talent. To a degree, they still are, but few of the prospects started this season with a realistic chance of breaking into the first team. The players who could have feasibly turned out regularly in the Premier League this campaign had already been moved on, while the few who still remain continue to struggle for game time.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Bertrand Traore and Kenedy are three examples of players who have ripened enough for senior football. However, they have had to wait until the club has been knocked out of every competition before enjoying some semblance of a run in the team.
Chelsea’s external recruitment failure played a huge role in this season’s downfall, but it would have been significantly compensated if the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku were knocking about to step in. They were given no reason to stay and thus chose not to.
Of course, there have been reports surrounding their attitudes and the issues that their impatience brought, but this is a poor counter-argument. If you’re harnessing that much potential, you are well within your rights to get frustrated by a lack of minutes, no matter your age. This duo, in particular, have shown that all they needed was exposure.
Fortunately, Chelsea do still have some bright prospects contracted at the club. Having said that, the likes of Charly Musonda, Loftus-Cheek, Andreas Christensen and Izzy Brown will move onto greener pastures should attitudes not change.
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With a new regime and a summer overhaul planned, a failure to bring these talented youngsters into the fold will be lethal. Don’t be surprised if the Champions League winners in four years’ time contain several Chelsea-trained players. The club just need to ensure that it is indeed the Blues who are the ones still housing them.